Roboto font in Android 4.3 gets subtle improvements and changes

Since the Android 4.3 leak a few days ago, every nook and cranny of the software has been under some serious scrutiny for changes and improvements. One new, noticeable improvement in the latest version of Android is the font. It’s still Roboto, but it’s seen some very minor tweaks and subtle changes, as you can see in the picture above. The red lines indicate new Roboto fonts, and the black shows old Roboto fonts. It’s clearly not a major difference, but it’s been refined and cleaned up a bit.

The curves of many letters, especially in lowercase letters, have been refined and trimmed up, and punctuation has seen some big improvements, especially the comma. Overall, I think it’s definitely a nice improvement, and it’s good to see Google paying attention to details with Android. If you want a great, very detailed full teardown of the new font, hit the Android Police source below. If you want a more hands on approach, you can grab the fonts from the download links.

Born in southern Alabama, Jared spends his working time selling phones and his spare time writing about them. The Android enthusiasm started with the original Motorola Droid and an unhealthy obsession with fixing things that aren't broken. This accidentally led to being the go-to guy for anything more complicated than a toaster, which he considers more of a curse than a blessing. Jared is enrolled in online classes at the University of Phoenix, and spends his spare time on video games and listening to music.

Ruben Martinez Jr.

I appreciate the gesture, but being red/green colorblind, I would appreciate it if you’d use literally any non-red color to show the changes.

Blake

Came here to say the same thing. I have NO idea what is new or old in that drawing…

nalvarez2007

How would we apply this to our Android devices? I’m on an AT&T GS3 and they use FlipFont not TrueType.

nalvarez2007

I just installed it on my at&t galaxy s3. It’s REALLY subtle so don’t expect any big changes anyone BUT it’s actually a big improvement on the eyes. It’s on par with the old fonts on the iPhone and looks clean and easy to read.